Explain Different Sociological Approaches to Health and Ill Health

Throughout society there are many different sociological approaches to health and ill health. Within society there are many different perspectives towards whom the responsibility for health falls upon and also what defines people as ill? Your health is defined by the general condition of your body and mind. An illness is defined by an impairment of normal physical or mental function. To help explain the different sociological approaches to health and ill health I will be referring to the case study of Aziz and Tamsela. Aziz and Tamsela have four young children; Tamsela’s elderly parents also live with them in their three bedroomed houses in a deprived and depressing area of London. Their house is in desperate need of repair; it is damp and due to this is very expensive to heat in the winter months. Aziz and Tamsela are both currently unemployed. The family also has very ill health; during the winter the children generally seem to have constant colds. On top of this Tamsela suffers from asthma and her father has bronchitis; also Tamsela’s mother is depressed and has been prescribed drugs to help her condition.

One of the first sociological approaches to health and ill health involves the functionalist approach. The functionalists approach is derived from the work of Talcott Parsons. Using the traditional functionalists approach he described how for society to function effectively that its members need to healthy. Parsons defined illness as a form of deviance and that ill members of society were still performing a social role, the sick role. In his view if people declared themselves as ill specific rights and responsibilities come with this new role. Functionalists believe that the rights associated with the sick role are; to be exempt from normal social obligations, for example, to go to school, college or work and from meeting normal family obligations, also to be cared for. Parsons saw it as one of the key functions of the family to care for the sick and other dependant members of the family group. The individual also has responsibilities that are involved in the sick role; taking all reasonable steps to get better and seeking to resume their normal place in society as soon as possible and to cooperate with medical professionals, particularly doctors and their staff. Functionalists view that illness has social consequences; the ill cannot work and need to be cared for. They believe that where ever possible illness must be quickly dealt with in order for society to function effectively. In the instance of Aziz and Tamsela, the functionalists view contradicts their situation as they are in ill health and are not working; therefore they are stopping the effective function of society. In order to comply with the functionalists view they would need to seek help themselves and ensure their return to health in order to be able to start working and contributing to society as in their current situation they are draining society.

Another approach to health and ill health would be the Marxists approach. Marxists believe that the definitions of health and illness and the health and social care system provided are in place to serve the interests of the more powerful dominant classes. Doctors are seen as agents who ensure that people go back to work as soon as possible, working in the interests of their employers rather than working in the patient’s best interests. Their job is to ensure that the employer has a healthy workforce. However the government still allow these companies to make money from the products that effectively cause ill health such as tobacco and junk food. Factories and firms also continue to produce toxic waste and large amounts of pollution which can also cause ill health. Marxists regard levels of ill health to be linked to the differences in social class, for example there is a higher level of illness and lower life expectancy in areas of poverty, high unemployment and environmental pollution. Marxists...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...﻿Explaindifferentsociologicalapproaches to health and illhealth
There are many sociologicalapproaches that explainhealth and illhealth. In this assignment I will be focusing on Marxism, feminism, interactionaist and functionalism perspectives.
The Marxist perspective believe that the bourgeoisie (middle class) exploit the proletariat (working class) as we live in a capitalist system and that if we lived in an communist society that would be our ideal society because there would be equality between everyone. In health and social care setting doctors and surgeons are the bourgeoisie who exploit the proletariat who are patients. In England patients are exploited by having to pay for prescriptions whereas Scotland and Ireland do not have to pay for their prescriptions. The prices for medication is also another way the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat as they set high prices for their products which enables them to make a large profit because there will always be a demand for medication and people need them to restore their health so they will buy the product no matter how much it costs as it is such a necessity. Furthermore private health care only benefits the bourgeoisie as they are the only ones who can afford it, this gives them better...

...﻿P2 – Explaindifferentsociologicalapproaches to health and ill-health
Being healthy is when your immune system is working, and the individual is feeling well, having ill-health is when your immune system is not working as it should be and the individual is feeling un-well, such as feeling weak or vomiting. When it comes to defining what health is it can be difficult, people can have a positive outlook to define health or a negative, for example a positive definition of health could be- feeling well in many ways; feeling physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially well, etc. A negative definition of health could be that you are healthy so long as you don’t have a disease.
As well as there being positive and negative approaches to health, there is also a holistic approach to health, holistic means ‘relates with a complete system rather than looking at individual parts’ (Webster, 2014) – so for example if one concept of our health is affected it will affect all the other parts in some way, the concepts are- spiritual health; physical health; environmental health; psychological health and sociologicalhealth. If somebody’s physical...

...weight loss. To be obese is not just bad for your health, it is also physically and mentally bad. The number one way to die in this nation is by heart disease, and number four is having a stroke. That is why doctors are being told this so they can prevent these deaths from happening. Now obesity is formed by the history in your family. If your mom and dad are obese most likely the children will be obese too.
A BMI of 30 or higher means you’re revealed as obese and need help. Almost seventy eight million adults are obese. Obesity has to start somewhere, and it’s all bad eating behavior. A lot of people stress eat. Chronic life stress seems to be related with a larger favor for energy foods, which are high in sugar and fat. Evidence from studies suggests that chronic life stress may be causally linked to weight gain, with a superior effect seen in men. Stress-induced eating may be one issue that’s causing the expansion of obesity.
Nutrition and physical activity are important risk issues of bad health in the United States. To improve your physical health and your mental health you need a health routine in life. Inactive Lifestyles have remained recognized to have high obesity levels, chances in having a stroke, and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and also a chance of having type II diabetes. The rise of overweight and obesity in Australia reflects international trends and places a...

...P3
Explain patterns and trends in health and illhealth among different social groupings.
Explain patterns and trends in health and illness among different social groupings.
Explain the measurement of health and the difficulties in measuring health. Eg. Morbidity rates, mortality rates, health events, disease incidence, disease prevalence, health surveillance, difficulties in measuring health (explain 3)
Understanding patterns and trends in health and illness among different social groupings: patterns and trends according to, eg social class, gender, ethnicity, age, locality and risk behaviour (explain 3)
Explainsociological explanations for patterns and trends in health and illness (artefact, natural/social selection, cultural/behavioural, materialist/structuralist)
In the measuring health, the doctors would have difficulties measuring people’s health as different doctors see other people’s health’s deferent to doctors.
Difficulties in measuring health:
Information that is gathered from official sources may not have accurate pictures of patterns of health and illness. Some people who are...

...﻿
This essay will demonstrate the relationships between mental health and social problems from both the social and medical point of view. Generally speaking mental illness is defined as, the psychological or mental state of an individual, who is functioning at a stable level in terms of behaviours and emotions. However the definition and ideology of mental health differs depending on which theory, perspective or model we look at it through. The models or influences in this context are of three types, firstly there is the psychological model which focusses on illness which arises in the brain through developing a series of thinking patterns. Secondly the Medical/biological model focuses on chemical imbalances in the brain and structural abnormalities, which result in patterns of abnormal and maladaptive behaviour. Finally there is the sociological model; this model focusses on how society and ones norms and values affect ones mental state and thinking process. Armstrong, E, eds. (2004)
The medical model which has been the dominant view since the twentieth and twenty first century represents the treatment of mental illness by combining aspects of both science and biology. In terms of advantages the medical model is able to treat patients fast and effectively, it is also relatively cheap and simple to administer. Furthermore it is a very subjective ideology as it is solely based on biological science. (Serendip, n.d). In context to...

...﻿
Health and Health Promotion
Deborah Keller
Thomas Edison State College
Health Assessment
NUR-416
Pamela Card
May 5, 2014
Health and Health Promotion
Introduction
A traditional approach to health care in general is one in which the goal of intervention is disease management in an attempt to minimize the harmful effects of a health crisis. Once a health crisis occurs, the quality of life for an individual is already negatively impacted. Therefore, health promotion is an equally, if not more important, component of health care that aims to improve the quality of life. Through the primary prevention efforts of health promotion, emphasis on avoiding disease and adopting a healthy lifestyle offers the greatest opportunity for a healthy and fulfilling life. As primary care givers, nurses play an important role in health promotion by demonstrating proper attitudes and behavior modeling, by providing valuable patient education and by advocating for and empowering patients and their families. There are numerous nursing theories which provide a framework for nurses to employ health promoting strategies in their practice.
Defining Health and Health Promotion
One of the most widely used definitions of health is that of the World...

...﻿3.1 Explain the nature of different professional relationships in health and social care.
Within health and social care there are many types of professionals who work to increase service users health and well – being. The different types of professionals working with a service user may vary depending on the illness. Professionals who work along side the health and social services include GP, Nurse, CPN, Health visitor, Physiatrist, Occupational Therapists etc.
(Nhscareers.nhs.uk, 2014)
As I am in placement at an organisation that supports service users and their carers to build a better future, the professionals I see working together would be a social worker and a family worker. Although, within the staff members there are also support workers or project workers, these are not professional roles but at times they worked alongside the professionals as they may have a stronger relationship with service users than some of the health care professionals.
Below is an example of the workers within my placement and the relationships they held with one and other.
(Positive-futures.net, 2014)
Below are some examples of roles and responsibilities of professionals:
A Social worker is able to provide information and advice about the services which are available for service users....

...Health & sociological perspectives
My essay on the sociological perspectives in the healthcare will demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of each topic functionalism, Marxism and will judge the value of the Feminist theory. I will also indulge my knowledge of the power and status of the medical and health profession. In my quest to inquire information of the sociological perspectives I will conclude my own understanding of us as humans, as unique individuals who strive for perfection, I shall share my findings and enclose personal information of life’s traits and give examples of research through books the internet and opinions.
Functionalism as a theorist perspective in which us as a human race introduced by the famous Talott Parsons, are obligated to fit into a society in which we all contribute positively to achieve certain goals, we must also want to follow the structure of society which will enrich us with rewards such as an income of wage, a higher status in society better accommodation and better quality food. With Functionalism in place we as humans are to perfume our role in society which will enable the structure to run smoothly and continue to work, to maintain this structure we must also want to fit into what they consider to be the normal role, Being healthy by looking after ourselves in all aspects of life like maintaining a healthy balanced diet, this enables us to function...